June 2013: General Motors Co.

[William Maley]

GM Reports Highest Monthly Sales Since September 2008

• Chevrolet and GMC large pickup sales up 29 percent in June; 23 percent in first half

DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) sold 264,843 vehicles in the United States in June, up 6 percent compared with a year ago. Deliveries to retail customers increased 14 percent while fleet sales declined 9 percent due to the timing of customer deliveries.

Total crossover sales were up 9 percent compared with a year ago; passenger car sales were up 4 percent, and truck sales, which include pickups, vans and SUVs, were up 8 percent. All four GM brands posted higher retail sales, with Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac posting double-digit increases.

“Our Chevrolet, Buick-GMC and Cadillac dealers reported strong retail deliveries across the board in June and for the first six months of the year,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. “We have good momentum heading into the second half of 2013: the economic outlook is solid and our launch vehicles are performing well in the marketplace.”

GM estimates that the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate for light vehicles in June was 15.8 million units, the highest level since November 2007.

“America’s families are better off than they were at the beginning of the year and they believe – with good justification – that the economic expansion is going to continue,” said Mustafa Mohatarem, GM chief economist. “Even moderate economic growth will be enough to keep the auto sales rate in the second half of the year at healthy levels around the mid 15 million-unit mark.”

June Sales Highlights (vs. 2012)

• Combined sales of GM’s mini, small and compact cars were up 59 percent. Large pickups were up 29 percent, luxury car sales were up 22 percent and compact crossovers were up 8 percent.
• Cadillac passenger car sales increased 38 percent on the strength of the all-new ATS and XTS, helping drive the brand’s fastest growth since 1976.
• Chevrolet mini, small and compact car sales were up 66 percent.
• Total sales of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra increased 29 percent and 33 percent respectively. Combined, dealers delivered more than 6,000 all-new 2014 crew cab models, and the “days to turn” is 10 days.
• The Chevrolet Cruze set an all-time monthly sales record, and Chevrolet Volt and Chevrolet Sonic each had their best-ever June sales.
• The Chevrolet Equinox had its best month ever with sales up 14 percent. Equinox deliveries have increased for 18 consecutive months.
• Chevrolet Impala retail deliveries rose 62 percent.
• Buick retail sales have increased for 14 consecutive months and the brand had its best June retail sales in seven years, on the strength of Buick Verano sales.

Calendar Year-to-Date Sales Highlights (vs. 2012)

• Cadillac was the industry’s fastest-growing luxury brand with a first-half sales increase of 33 percent.
• Retail sales of GM’s redesigned medium crossovers have been very strong: the Buick Enclave was up 24 percent, the Chevrolet Traverse 21 percent and the GMC Acadia 16 percent.
• Crossover sales were up 16 percent compared with a year ago, passenger car sales were up 1 percent and truck sales were up 11 percent.
• Large pickup sales were up 23 percent, including a 49 percent increase in Silverado and Sierra sales to small business customers, who are benefiting from the recovery in housing and overall economic growth.

[riviera74]

Impala sales down thanks to higher prices. I would be much more concerned about falling Malibu and Regal sales. The trucks are doing well again. Woo-Hoo!

[ZL-1]

Regal, LaCrosse and Malibu sales probably the most reason for concern there... CTS down, but I think the new car, even at higher prices, will be far from a flop.

Malibu is pretty hopeless unless the tweaks work some magic in the eyes of the average car buyer... What will the strategy be for Regal and LaCrosse past their current generations is the big question mark for me...

[Z-06]

Regal, LaCrosse and Malibu sales probably the most reason for concern there... CTS down, but I think the new car, even at higher prices, will be far from a flop.

Malibu is pretty hopeless unless the tweaks work some magic in the eyes of the average car buyer... What will the strategy be for Regal and LaCrosse past their current generations is the big question mark for me...

Yes, GM needs solid FWD sedans and it has historically sucked at solid FWD sedans. Last year Malibu sold ~31,000 units in June, that ~10,000 unit drop is huge, given Impala did not move too much iron.

MCE for Lacrosse and Regal may not push those cars enough to pull Buick out of the rut. I think Buick sales may peak in US at 20,000 per month.

[Drew Dowdell]

They're still putting zero marketing effort into Regal and throwing it all at Verano and Encore..... and wouldn't you, if you managed to convince people to pay ~$27k for something that costs roughly the same to assemble as a Chevy Cruze?

[G. David Felt]

Still think GM Marketing is missing the boat by not having ads for all models rather than just a choosen few.

[smk4565]

They have too many models to advertise them all, that has always been a weakness of GM. GM puts the marketing dollars behind new cars and the big sellers like pick up trucks. The Regal isn't going to sell, might as well buy ads for a truck instead.

[Z-06]

They have too many models to advertise them all, that has always been a weakness of GM. GM puts the marketing dollars behind new cars and the big sellers like pick up trucks. The Regal isn't going to sell, might as well buy ads for a truck instead.

In the May 2013 GM sales thread you were proven wrong.

[smk4565]

The only thing I was wrong about in my May 2013 comments was I thought Impala sales would go down from the old one but go up in profit. But the Impala sales have gone up and the new one is selling as well as the fleet queen did, which is a good sign. The Maligu is hurting, perhaps more are moving to the Impala and paying the higher price for the better car.

My point from May was GM has too many models to advertise all, and they advertise pickups all the time because that is where the money is made (which makes sense) and they let other cars die on the vine. Look at Regal and Lacrosse sales in the tank, even Camaro down 20% against a dated Mustang. Trucks and cars in the first 2 model years get marketing dollars.

GM has been advertising pickups a lot lately because they want to clear out the old model, I've seen $8-9,000 off advertised on a $30-40k vehicle, that is over 25% off, that is why the Silverado and Sierra had big months, remember there was over a 100 day inventory of those a few months ago.

[Drew Dowdell]

Camaro is in a model change over.

[Z-06]

SMK, marketing is a small part of the equation. What part of that you don't understand? You make it sound like products make or break because of marketing alone. That is not the case. GM's lack of advertising products after initial blitzkreig is more of a company's cultural issue than a monetorial issue, which cannot be fixed even if there is one Brand and tons of money to waste on.

And for your information about Bentley, Porsche not marketing look at Forbes, Kiplinger other financial magazines you will realize how much marketing those companies do.

It is a cultural thing for sure. It is marketing and product both, I get that. Vehicles GM spends money on developing and then advertises every year sell. But some cars are done a shoe string, get advertised then forgotten about and left to die. I haven't seen many Regal ads on TV lately, and they ran all the time when it first came out.

The only thing I was wrong about in my May 2013 comments was I thought Impala sales would go down from the old one but go up in profit. But the Impala sales have gone up and the new one is selling as well as the fleet queen did, which is a good sign. The Maligu is hurting, perhaps more are moving to the Impala and paying the higher price for the better car.

My point from May was GM has too many models to advertise all, and they advertise pickups all the time because that is where the money is made (which makes sense) and they let other cars die on the vine. Look at Regal and Lacrosse sales in the tank, even Camaro down 20% against a dated Mustang. Trucks and cars in the first 2 model years get marketing dollars.

GM has been advertising pickups a lot lately because they want to clear out the old model, I've seen $8-9,000 off advertised on a $30-40k vehicle, that is over 25% off, that is why the Silverado and Sierra had big months, remember there was over a 100 day inventory of those a few months ago.

Hypocrisy much?

[regfootball]

They're still putting zero marketing effort into Regal and throwing it all at Verano and Encore..... and wouldn't you, if you managed to convince people to pay ~$27k for something that costs roughly the same to assemble as a Chevy Cruze?

Exactly. But even so, the Regal is so much nicer, they need to promote and price it SOME........

Verano is GM's 2013 version of the Grand Am and Alero. Not a chevy, but still small, economical, and just enough nice. So it has the formula to sell.

The Regal and Malibu both do not sell, in Regals case its due to marketing and pricing, but at some point you have to also wonder if GM just really didn't screw up on some basics with these two Epsilon versions.

I really love the Regal myself but to be honest I would like it to be a larger a bit for the price they want.

GM may have to go a different direction on the next all new Regal, but what exactly?

I think Verano needs to be flushed out with the 3d and 5d and maybe even the wagon and diesels.

What space does that create for Regal?

ADAM needs to be here too!

[Z-06]

I think the Buick sedan trio is too close to each other's comforts. Verano should be where it is, move Regal to the size of Lacrosse and push Lacrosse into a RWD/AWD platform.

Chevy also has the same problem when it comes to sizing of its trio. However, given the volume Chevy generates for its sedans, there is less a simplistic answer. First you should start with Malibu being right sized, packaged and competent in the mid-size market. Then push Impala up and move Cruze down. Why do I say that? Because - mid-size is possibly the "perception" market and unarguably the battleground where competition is stiffest and margins are less. Getting Malibu right is paramount. Which means, getting next generation epsilon platform to perfection is very important. All the incompetencies of existing EP II platforms must be removed (interior packaging, weight, width). Impala will be gravy on Malibu's mashed potatoes.

Cruze needs more than one body style and power train just like the Focus. Cruze is too monotonous like the Corolla and other than Cruze, Corolla and Sentra, no other small car has just one body style and power train (let's ignore Cruze D for a while). That is not an exciting company to be with.